Archive for February, 2009

This Knitting Tape Measure is a cute gift for knitters who enjoy other crafts as well.

Our book group selection was The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacob. Overall we all liked it and were able to have a good group discussion, a big plus. Each member of our group related to a different member of the Friday Night Knitting Club – I naturally related to Georgia, the skilled craftswoman with a small business and a 12-year-old daughter who likes to cook, because that is exactly my situation. (But unlike Georgia, I also have a husband and 10-year-old daughter.) A talkative member of our group was the first to volunteer that she saw herself in the outgoing K.C., others responded to Anita, Georgia’s supportive, older friend.

Pretty Cooking Ornament - A great way to acknowledge a girl's budding culinary interests

It was fun discussing how Darwin, the doctoral student writing a thesis on what a throwback knitting is, evolved over the course of the book. (If it’s fun, enjoy it, and don’t be intimidated by others who have different interests. It wouldn’t be a skill that is still practiced if it were true drudgery – anyone prefer to wash clothes on a washboard?) Knitting is meditative, it feels good in the hand, you can immediately have a sense of accomplishment and it’s practical – what’s not to like?

Learn to accept the twists and turns one's life takes with a River Name Badge Holder

We discussed the fact that most characters in the book did the opposite of what was expected of them and whether this was realistic. I think the group was mostly against it in the beginning, but came around to the fact that this not unlike real life in many cases. If you think about what you were like in high school and what you thought your life was going to be like in future and compare, well, you too may discover that there definitely were unexpected twists and turns. Not everyone leads a predictable life, and quite often you don’t end up where you thought you’d be.

Fairytale Castle Bookmark - A lovely gift for the young reader who is enchanted with books

Even the ending of the Friday Night Knitting Club was not predictable, and this was a refreshing change from so many books one reads. It gets to the point when reading other books that half way through you’ve already figured out where it is going, know the neat tie-ups that are coming – that someone will keep a baby, get married to a long-time friend, be successful in business or whatever feel-good, fairytale endings the author comes up with. Not with this one. I think the characters have stayed with me for that very reason.

BTW, she was born and raised in Canada, which may account for why she comes across as such a nice, friendly person with whom you could quickly become good friends. Her characters, too, are quite believable that way.

Monogram Money Clip with the Letter K - for Kyle or Kate or Knitting! At Kyle Design, we now have gifts with all letters of the alphabet.

Side note: Kate exclaimed when I said my name was Kyle, because that was what she had intended to name a female character in her latest book, Knit Two. But she was discouraged from using it by her manuscript readers as being not believable. So now she said she’s inclined to use again if it fits a future character.

So, the bottom line – good book that I would definitely recommend for book groups in particular.